Two Polk County workers were arrested Wednesday after leaving a sleeping, 13-year-old special-needs student on a school bus twice this month, deputies said.

The bus driver, 51-year-old Gale Brown, and the bus attendant, 57-year-old Gwendolyn Simmons, both of Lake Wales, were each charged with two counts of negligent child abuse.

"According to the affidavits, a 13-year-old special needs student was left on the bus on two separate occasions, after dropping off all of the other children at Our Children's Academy in Lake Wales,'' a statement from Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Horstman said.

It happened on Wednesday and March 2. Both times, the student forced open an emergency exit in the bus to get out.

Then the boy hitchhiked or walked home to Davenport roughly 30 miles away.

In both instances, the suspects admitted they had a student deactivate a child-reminder system on the school bus.

Gale Brown, left, and Gwendolyn Simmons

Gale Brown, left, and Gwendolyn Simmons

The system sounds an alarm that requires someone to push a button at the rear of the bus.

The bus is also equipped with cameras, which captured both instances.

In the first instance on March 2, the boy was sleeping while Simmons sat behind him.

"Brown drove the bus and children to Our Children's Academy, and all of the children except the victim disembarked. Simmons walked up to the front of the bus, not noticing the victim was still in his seat, sleeping," the statement said.

Brown drove the bus to Mobley Street in Lake Wales, parked it and got off without checking if anyone was left behind.

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The boy woke up 15 minutes later.

"On March 8, the victim was again sleeping in his seat, not noticed by either Brown or Simmons, who left on the bus on Mobley Street in Lake Wales," the statement said.

The suspects told investigators that they didn't know the boy was left on the bus.

"This was entirely avoidable - the Polk County School Board is committed to keeping our children safe, equipping school buses with the latest technology to ensure children are not left behind. These two suspects completely disregarded all safety measures, and endangered a 13-year-old special needs student — there is absolutely no excuse for this type of neglect," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.